Recipes for Health: Choosing Natural Ingredients

“Many people want to eat healthy, but they also want quick and easy ideas for preparing meals that can fit into busy lifestyles.”  Professor Michelle Bartell, M.A., RD, CDN, Assistant Professor in Hospitality Management at Monroe Community College in Rochester, N.Y. presents an eye-opening look at healthy cooking and the ease at which we can prepare delicious, healthy meals.

As an educator on healthy cooking, do you find that most people employ healthy cooking methods in their home kitchens?  How open is the general public to changing their cooking habits in an effort to eat healthier?
 
I think people are becoming more interested in eating healthy and have a greater desire to learn to prepare healthier dishes at home.  Probably the biggest obstacle that I hear from people is that they don’t feel they have the time to cook healthy foods.  There is a misconception that if it’s good for you, it takes a lot more time and effort to prepare.  That is not the case at all.  A simple dish of poached fish and steamed vegetables, for example, is very easy to prepare and takes minutes to get to the table.

What are some healthy replacements for conventional recipe ingredients that are deemed as unhealthy or lacking nutritional value?

I like to use yogurt in many recipes that call for sour cream.  It is lower in fat and if you’re using active culture yogurts, you get the benefit of probiotics as well.  I also use bean and fruit purees to replace some of the fat in baked items such as brownies and muffins.  They reduce the fat in these items, while adding more nutritional value to them.  I’m also a big fan of whole grains such as quinoa, whole grain pasta, whole oats and brown rice.  These are easy to incorporate into not only main dish recipes, but also salads and desserts, helping to boost fiber and nutrients in these dishes.

How has marketing in the packaged foods industry influenced the nutritional value of American home cooking?

I think there is still a lot of confusion out there about labeling on packages and what it all means.  My experience has been that people focus on one or two particular nutrients on a food label rather than looking at the item as a whole and evaluating its nutritional content in that way.    For example, if someone is looking only at the fat content or specific claims on the label they can overlook other constituents in the product.  It is possible to find many fat-free or low-fat foods that are low in almost all vitamins, minerals and other beneficial nutrients, or conversely are high in other less desirable constituents, such as sugar or sodium.